I Lived Like A 1950's HOUSEWIFE For 1 WEEK!

Hello Darlings! I had so much fun trying this real 1950's Housewife schedule and comparing our modern life to it, it's so different! I hope you enjoy this video, it's a long one BUT you really don't want to miss the bloopers at the end!

Lots of Love,
Sage xx

Click the link below to check out my favourite vintage style lipstick collection from Besame Cosmetics. This is a paid link that helps to support the channel via commission. ❤️

1950's Housewife Schedule

1950's Dinner Recipes

Debbie Drake exercises

[SageLilleyman]

Hello darlings! Just thought I would add that this was just an experiment to see what it would have been like to live and follow a schedule in the 1950s. By no means do I believe that all the values they had were right, because there weren’t! But some of the family values like sitting down together for meals, were really nice! I think in today’s society that sort of family time isn’t always prioritised.
Remember, vintage style not vintage values!

Sending lots of love,
Sage xx

[j]

Here's a hint my 1950s/1960s mother shared with me; the drapes were not opened in the morning until you were ready for company (house tidy, housewife dressed and hair combed, children fed and husband off to work, etc). Once the drapes were open, the neighboring housewives would know it was okay to come over and have a chat.

[avaraquel]

Being a housewife and mother in my opinion is a full time job.

[VintageMillyBooks]

My Mum was a 1950’s housewife and carried her routines through to the 80’s until she passed. She had 7 children, her first born in 1955 and I was her last born in 1975. My Mum wore Scholls around the house but heeled shoes or boots when she went out. She woke at 6am daily and did not stop, she’d eventually sit down at 7pm where she’d smoke 1 cigarette and read her paper. I have adopted some of her routines out of respect for her. She was an amazing lady.

[crazyleaf]

You didn't make James dress up! 🤣 This guy from 2020 keeps popping up in your life

[nancywilson]

I enjoyed your program! I really was a 1950’s housewife! Actually we didn’t dress each day in stockings. heels, fancy dress and a girdle. But we did wear them for evenings “out” and special occasions. Just as I do today, I wore comfortable clothes like jeans, slacks, sweaters, etc. I didn’t spend the day with so many household chores. My time wasn’t regulated back then. Because I was my own “boss” at home, that made it a lot easier than having to go out to a 9 to 5 job and following someone else’s orders. But then we had one income.. my husband’s. I remember when my friend got a job, having extra money meant she could buy lots of extras. But shortly after,
two incomes became almost necessary as people wanted to have more things. Kids didn’t have the kind of activities after school that required driving them. My family activities centered at home. ...I feel like I’m giving away a “secret” because back then we actually had more freedom and the time to spend with what we most valued...family and friends. It was just easier then.

[VintageLPs]

I well remember my mother as a homemaker in the 50s with four children, loss of a pregnancy at 6 months, a miscarriage plus two more full term pregnancies. She had a strict schedule of washing clothes and hanging all of them up on Monday using an old style washer wherein she had to manually run the washed clothes through a wringer. A general sweep through the house making beds (kids made their own if old enough), clearing clutter, sweeping floors manually washing dishes. Kids took turn washing evening dishes if old enough. Tuesday she sat at an Ironrite mangle to iron all the clothes while listening to Arthur Godfrey, taking care of baby or toddlers. During the week she always had a full meal for six on the table at supper but for breakfast she made coffee and dad had cereal. Kids had cereal, too. Mom made sack lunches for dad and all school-aged kids. Wednesday was a full day of top to bottom house cleaning. Thursday all the beds, bunk beds and crib were stripped and made up with clean bedding and dirty sheets and pillow cases were washed, wrung and hung on the line. Continual light cleaning and straightening of house, taking care of baby, sterilizing bottles, washing cloth diapers. Friday at least three little children accompanied her on the city bus to a small supermarket where she got all the groceries on the list she had prepared for the following week’s meals. Then a trip into the five and dime store for fabric and crochet thread and then she corralled all the kids and grocery bags, boarded the city bus and went home to put it all away. Friday supper was all the week’s leftovers, fresh egg salad and by the 60s, also a frozen pizza. Saturday another deep house cleaning while dad tackled the yard, car, cleaned the garage, fixed anything that was broken, put up and took down storm windows, they both tended a huge vegetable garden, all the kids pulled weeds, Saturday night baths for everyone plus mom washed the girls’s hair and set them in rollers and prepared clothes for Sunday Mass. Sunday besides early Mass, my mother prepared the biggest meal of the week, dad set the dining room table with the best dishes and China and we all sat down together at noon. Every day of the week plus after Sunday dinner, we all knelt down together and said the family rosary. Both my parents quit smoking by 1953, neither took drugs and dad had one beer before supper. My mother also sewed ALL the girls clothes, dresses and pajamas for everyone and sewed all her clothes. She knit mittens and scarves, crocheted table clothes and doilies, knit sweaters and even our dishcloths in later years. She was Wonder Woman because she also painted rooms, made curtains and the most perfect pinch pleated drapes. Sadly because of the loss of the baby in 1957, she had a nervous breakdown in spring of 1958, spent three months in a mental hospital and had 14 shock therapy treatments. How could any woman keep up this schedule for years and not go stark raving mad? The oldest child was born in 1943 and the youngest was born in 1965 when she was 43. She was my hero and a saint and I miss her every day.

[ithacacomments]

My mother WAS a 1950s housewife.
Her day was mostly screaming...."wait until your father gets home!" ...to five active children.

[frankvaden]

I was a teenager in the 1950’s and I can tell you that NOBODY did all of those things on the same day! It was more like Monday - Washing, Tuesday ironing, Wednesday house cleaning, etc., etc. We also did wear loafers or flats when we were going to be on our feet much. You need to greet your husband with a drink when he comes home - bring the children in to say hello to their father before tucking them into bed and then serving him dinner. TV in the evening and then bed.

[patriciaanderson]

Here's a tip from my mother and grandmother, who were housewives in the 1950's. Don't wear heels or makeup until AFTER your housework is done. Clean ONE room every other day, just touch up the other rooms. Then, you will be able to deep clean every couple weeks, but just keep up the touch ups so the house is always clean. Mom raised 8 kids this way. Her laundry was done by breakfast every day. This was with 3 in diapers for years. She hated the new automatic they got, and wanted the old wringer washer back, it was faster to clean cloths she said. Flats, pants and leaving the dresses and heels for when you go outside to the store or something else.

[gabbygirl]

my great grandmother passed at 103yrs old in 2001. She was born in 1898! I remember as a child going to her home and she still kept up this schedule till about a week before she passed. Still living in her own home. Her first husband died young in war, her second husband passed in 1950s and her third in the mid 80s. As per her wish she was buried with her first love. Her eldest daughter who fell out of a barn loft as a child and ended up with severe brain damage. My grandmother at 103 was still caring for that daughter at home. She was such a tough lady, guess they had to be back then. Perfectly meticulous house looked like a time capsule becasue she took such good care of everything she owned. She wore a very similar styled dresses like this still everyday, put her stockings and small heeled peekaboo toe shoes everyday and yes the cold cream too! At her funeral everyone was commenting on how beautiful her skin was, hardly a wrinkle at 103! She always wore sun hats too. Anyway the talk around the funeral home was she also used every virgin olive oil om her face every night. We live in small town and i went to grocery store next day to buy some extra virgin olive oil and ponds cold cream, the shop keeper was sold out. Seems all the ladies at the funeral home were thinking the same thing after seeing how great her skin was at such an age

[jercasgav]

My paternal Grandma said that you would normally wear flats around the house, not heels to save your feet, and you would wear a house dress for cleaning and no girdle. If you went anywhere though (even the grocery store), you then changed into a nicer/non-house dress, heels, and wore a girdle. Once you became a teenager (middle school aged 11-13yrs), you HAD to wear a girdle in public and absolutely to school at all times. You washed your hair typically once per week and bathed daily. My Grandma grew up in rural Colorado.

My maternal Grandma grew up in a small town in South Dakota. When it became hot and humid in the heat of summer, the fathers would come home and eat lunch with the family, then stay all afternoon at home relaxing until the heat passed, then they would go work for a few hours later into the evening, and dinner would be at 8-9pm and was called supper instead. The rest of the year the dads would go home for a good lunch then go back to work...but the point being that families ate together for basically all meals of the day. If I recall the kids might have gone home for lunch as well often times.

[edwinfriedl]

I'm 73 and this takes me back to my childhood. Mom did all those things plus raised two kids. Good copy of a woman's life.

[yvettep]

My grandmother was ALWAYS cleaning all the way till she died at 98 years of age. Her home was PRISTINE! I loved being at her house.

[Suerte]

I help take care of the elderly. And many of them being 50s housewives...and to this day, Their homes are immaculate.

[jackiekamelmusic]

Well I think we can all agree that James had the best week ever.

[maryblumreich]

I was a young housewife (19) in the late fifties. I was spoiled by my mother as I was an only child, so I didn't have much experience, but I learned quickly. My mother was the talented homemaker who had a knack for making everything nice, she could sew anything, she was pretty near perfect. Four children and many dogs and cats later, plus a full time job, I could never match up to the lady in the video, or mom. 😊

[BrandinoJalapeno]

I'm a man and I've realized that the routine I set for myself recently to help with my life is literally being a 1950's housewife. Well'p time to put on my highheels! lol

[margaretf]

My poor mother raised 11 kids doing all this and we never had store bought bread. She baked bread at least twice a week. During the 70’s she baked two kinds of bread white and wheat lol. She had wash on the line before we left for school and allowed us to come home for lunch.

[christinecortese]

I grew up in the 50s and for sure women rejected that role over time. But there is definitely value in traditional roles so long as they are voluntarily chosen. When men and women appreciate one another’s efforts that’s great.